Jesse Tyler Ferguson on His Amazing Oscar-Party Photo Bomb (and the Sloppiest Modern Family Dresser)

On Wednesday, Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his fiancé, Justin Mikita, hosted a New York party celebrating their Tie the Knot spring 2013 collection of bow ties. The collection is inspired by New York City, with styles such as the Flatiron, the Chelsea, and the High Line, and proceeds benefit the Respect for Marriage Coalition, a partnership of organizations working toward marriage equality. VF Daily spoke to the couple at the party, at Avenue in Chelsea. Highlights from our chat:

Jesse Tyler Ferguson: Orlando’s been—I don’t know him terribly well, but he’s been so sweet to me every time I’ve seen him, he’s such a fan of the show, and is just such a generous, sweet guy. And that carpet, you sort of have to U-turn your way out of it and walk behind people taking photos, so it was a last-minute thing. I just jumped really quickly, and they caught that. I also kind of knocked them over a little bit, and they were so sweet and didn’t seem to care, but I’m glad it didn’t end in a disaster.

So to your tie collection. Do you coordinate? In fact, at theV.F. party, it looked like you were wearing matching tuxedos, except you, Justin, wore a white jacket and you, Jesse, wore black.

Ferguson: They were both Hugo Boss, and mine was velvet, and Justin’s was, obviously, white. Yeah, we have a great stylist who put that together for us. And I was wearing our Isaac Mizrahi tie from this line, and Justin was wearing a Boss tie.

And what about tonight? Do you coordinate what you’re going to wear when you go out?

Ferguson: Not really. In fact, we try not to be coordinated. Although I kind of had a little bit of a meltdown at the hotel room, because you would have thought that I picked out the perfect outfit for tonight, and, like, steamed it and put it all together. But I hadn’t really thought; I brought options, but I wasn’t really sure what to wear, so it kind of looks like a bow-tie explosion in our room. There’s lots of clothes all over the place.

I’ve noticed that you tend to dress a certain way—do you have a “look”?

Ferguson: I don’t know.

Mikita: Quirky chic?

Ferguson:Quirky chic.

Maybe a little bit professorial? You wear suits a lot, sometimes with vests.

Ferguson: I do. I like suits. I mean, I always feel good in a suit; I’m more of a suit guy than a shirt-and-jeans-type guy, probably. You know, like, I love Brad Goresky’s style. And sometimes he’ll wear a pair of, like, leopard pants, and I’m like, I couldn’t pull that off, but I appreciate it from afar.

Justin, did you wear bow ties before you met Jesse?

Mikita: Yes. I think not nearly as much. In fact, now whenever we go somewhere and we’re wearing a necktie or a Tom Ford bow tie, we get in trouble.

Ferguson:For not wearing one of our own.

Mikita: For not wearing our own.

Can either of you actually tie a bow tie?

Mikita: Yeah.

Ferguson: Absolutely. I had to learn, for this very purpose. [Ed. note: David Letterman may beg to differ.]

You didn’t know how before launching this line of ties?

Ferguson:I did not know, no.

Who is the sloppiest dresser on the Modern Family set out of costume?

Ferguson: The sloppiest?

Mikita: Lily.

Ferguson:Yeah. She literally will show up in her pajamas sometimes. Like, we have very-early-morning calls, and I’m like, “Aubrey, pull it together! Enough with the unicorn pajamas!” I mean, how embarrassing. Bed hair.

Which adult in the cast is the worst dresser?

Ferguson: Which adult? Um . . . God—we’re all; I mean, we’re a well-dressed crew. Um, I wish I could say Sofía just kind of looks like a hot mess every time she showed up. [Pauses, thinking.] No, I mean, you know, we’ve all got our own styles.

Mikita: Sofía, even at her worst, looks amazing.

Ferguson: I know. You know, Eric wears a lot of denim. Not that that’s sloppy. I don’t know, I don’t think any of us . . . Ed? Ed. And he’s earned it. He’s been in this business long enough; he can show up a little sloppy.

Back to the Vanity Fair party, did you guys see anyone drip In-N-Out ketchup on their fancy gowns or anything?

Mikita: I had an In-N-Out burger, and Kristin Chenoweth got really jealous. She was, like, “Where did you get that?” And I went up to Tom Colicchio, and I said, “Tom, what do you think of this In-N-Out burger?”

Ferguson: In his best Padma voice.

Mikita: In my best Padma voice, from Top Chef. But everyone eats In-N-Out, I love it. It’s, like, everyone all dolled up eating In-N-Out burgers. It’s the best.